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G. w. BERKSHIRE.

FLUE CLEANER.

fit/1888.

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I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE WASHINGTON BERKSHIRE, OE LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

FLUE-CLEANER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 389.634, datedSeptember 18, 1888.

Application filed October 10, 1887. Serial No. 251,?76. (Model) To aZZwhom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, GEORGE WASHINGTON BERKSHIRE, a citizen'of the UnitedStates, re siding at Louisville, in the county of Jefferson and State ofKentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flue-Cleaners; and I do hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, andexact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled inthe art to which it appertaius to make and use the same.

This invention relates to that class of fluebrooms which are designed tobe forced through the dues of boilers and to be reciprocatedlongitudinally therein for the purpose of removing therefromaccumulations of soot and other refuse products of combustion; and theobject of the invention is to provide means for rapidly expanding andcontracting diametrically a broom made up of a series of segmentalbrushes.

To this end my invention consists in the construction and combination ofparts forming a flue-broom, hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is alongitudinal section of the upper half of a flue-broomelosed,illustrating my invention. Fig. 2 isatransverse section midway ofthe brush, illustrating the principle of expansion. Fig.3isatransversesection ofthe same at the dotted line as of Fig. 1. Fig. 4is a longitudinal section of the other half of my flue-broom opposite tothe half shown in Fig. 1, and showing relatively thereto the change ofpositions of the parts which has taken place by expanding the broom; andFig. 5 is a side elevation on a smaller scale of my flue-broom expanded.

5 represents the central shaft,which for the sake of lightness may beapipe screw-threaded along each end and provided at its rear end with asocket, 6, into which a handle of any length may be secured. The broomis provided with two heads, 7 and 8. The head 7 is screw-threaded uponthe shaft 5, and the head Sis free upon the shaft, permitting the latterto revolve in it and to pass through it without contact. The interior ofeach head is conical, opening toward the other, and

each head is provided with four radial grooves,

9, to receive ribs upon the slanting ends of staves 10. Upon thesestaves are secured the the steel spring-wires 12. Each stave has aseries of these segmental brushes on its length,

and the brushes on one stave alternate with those of the next stave.

13 represents one expander journaled -between collars 15 upon the shaft5, and 14 the other expanderscrew-threaded upon the shaft 5. Bothexpanders are conical on their inner ends to engage inclines on theunder sides of the staves 10 at their ends.

16 represents four slide-bars rigidly fixed atone end of each in thehead 7 and lying parallel with the shaft 5 and eircumferentially betweenthe staves 10. The head 8 and the expander 13 are free to slidelongitudinally upon the bars 16; but they are both held by the bars fromrevolving with the shaft 5 when the 17 represents a collar fixed uponthe shaft 5 to bear against the outer end of the head 8.

As here shown, this collar is a common nut screw-threaded upon the shaftand secured in the desired position by a check-nut, 18, alsoscrew-threaded upon the shaft.

The operation is as follows: By revolving the shaft 5 to the right andholding the head 7 stationary the said shaft will be screwed through thehead 7 and the expander 14 and advance the expander 13. This expandercrowds the staves 10 forward, forcingthem in the direction of the arrows19, guided by the stationary head 7 at one end and by the stationaryexpander 14 at the other end. The head Sis crowded constantly to itsbearings 17 by the staves 10, which are constantintermediates betweenthis head and the jourualed expander 13.

Theoretically there should be an interior shoulder to the head 8opposite to the shoulder 17; but the staves holding the said headconstantly up to the shoulder 17 obviate the necessity for an interiorshoulder, and the shoulder 17 is made a screw-nut to adjust the head 8to the length of the staves when setting up the parts of this broom andto readjust the parts in case of wear. Thus screwing the shaft 7 and theexpander 14-, white by pressing the shoulder 17 against the head 8forces the staves inward down the i nelines i u reverse (1 irection tothearrows 19. It may be seen that thescrews on the body 5 through thehead 7 and the expander 14 being both the same number of threads to aninch and both the same handed, either right or left, and the bars 16keeping the said head and expander circumfereutially in a fixed relationto each other, their distance apart will notbe varied byrevolvingthcscrcwshaftf) either way. It may be further seen that thecollars 15 and the shoulder 17 are both fixed to the same shaft,5,thereby maintaining a fixed distance between the head 8 and the expander13. Thus all parts are maintained mechanically in any position withoutthe aid of springs.

Each segment 11 is a semicircle secured midway upon its supporting-staveand extending its ends beyond the said stave over the ad- .cent bars 16and to the center of the adjacent staves when the expanders are closedand the perimeter of the outer ends of the brushwires 12isa perfectcircle, and when the broom is expanded the overlapping of alternatesegments of the brushes maintains the whole broom in so near acylindrical form (see Fig. 3) as to produce the effect of a perfectcylinder in service.

Some of the advantages of this flue-broom are its simplicity, itsmechanical action without springs, its internal adjustability, and itsquickness and facility of operation.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I wish to secure byLetters Patent is the following:

1. The combination of the shaft 5, screwthreaded along each end, thehead 7, and the conical expander 14, screw-threaded thereon, the conicalexpander 13, journaled on the said shaft, collars 15, fixed upon theshaft at both sides of the expander 13, the head 8, mounted freely uponthe shaft 5, the shoulder 17, fixed upon the said shaft outside the head8, the heads 7 and 8 being internally conical and radially grooved,staves 10, slanted above at their ends and provided with ribs to fit thesaid grooves and slanted below to fit the conical ends of the saidexpanders, and slide-bars 16, fixed in one of the said heads and fittedto slide freely through the other head and through one of the expanders,substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination of a shaft having on it two screws of the samethread, an internallyeonical grooved head threaded upon one of the saidscrews and a conical expander threaded upon the other, anotherinternally-conical radially-grooved head mounted freely on the saidshaft opposite to the first-named head,

and an outer shoulder therefor fixed on the said shaft, and anotherconical expander journaled between collars on the said shaft opposite tothe first-named expander, substantially as shown and described, wherebya staved brush-broom may be expanded, as set forth.

3. The combination of the shaft 5, provided with the fixed collars 15and the adjustable shoulders 17, and having screw-threads along itsends, the head 7, screw-threaded upon one of the said ends, and theexpander 14, screwthreaded upon the other end, the expander 13,journaled between the collars 15, and the head 8, loosely mounted uponthe shaft against the shoulder 17, the staves l0, fitted to engage thesaid heads and expandersand brushes upon the staves, substantially asshown and described.

4. The combination of a central shaft, 5, the heads and the expandersmounted thereon, and staves looselyheld between the heads and expanders,and the slide-bars 16, fixed in one of the heads and passing between thestaves parallel with the shaft, substantially as shown and described,whereby certain parts at a dis tance from the said one head are kept infixed rotary relation thereto.

5. The staves 10 and the segmental brushes 11 12, mounted thereon, eachsegment being secured midway on its own stave and overlapping theadjacent segments, and the segments on adjacent staves alternatinglongitudinally, substantially as shown and described. a

6. The combination, in flue-brooms, of a stave and a series of brusheshaving bodies formed as circular segments secured at the center of eachat a distance apart upon the said staves and projecting at each sidethereof, the said stave being adapted to be held upon a shaft,substantially as shown and described.

7. The combination of the screw-threaded shaft, the heads and theexpanders mounted thereon, and the bars 16, fixed in one head parallelwith the shaft and loosely fitted throu gh the said ex panders and theother head, substantially as shown and described.

8. The combination of the screw-threaded shaft, the heads and expandersmounted thereon, the segmental brushes mounted on staves between thesaid heads, and the bars 16, fixed in one head and passing freelythrough the said expanders and the other head and located between thesaid stavcs when the latter are closed, substantially as shown anddescribed.

In testimony whereof I aftix n'iysignature in p resencc of twowitnesses.

(lllflltttll WASHINGTON \Vitnesses:

lnnoni hLlRSIIALL, SAMUEL S'rE'rsoN.

BERKSHIRE.

IIO

